Episode 9
'The Shop Tournament Begins '(''Shoppu Taikai Kaimaku) ''is the ninth episode of Cardfight!! Vanguard. It premiered on March 5, 2011. The shop tournament at Card Capital finally begins, and Aichi faces off against Izaki in the first round. The day of the shop tournament has arrived and Aichi is up early bursting with excitement! Kamui greets Aichi more than enthusiastically at the front of the shop and hurries him in. Aichi gets a first look at the competition, or rather, the other way round. Only one of them stands out, because he’s dressed like a business man with a samurai helm and has a goatee… Nitta asks everyone to gather around and Aichi is so nervous that he trips. Kai enters the shop fashionably late and as calm as ever. Nitta now declares the tourname nt rules; 16 people, single elimination, Nitta is ref and the audience cannot give advice. Normal Vanguard rules apply. After the announcements Morikawa and Kamui snatch the microphone and make fools of thems elves. Looking around, Aichi notices that he’s probably the only nervous one here. Nitta then asks the sub-manager, the cat, to unveil the first round match ups. There are 4 blocks of 4 Fighters, Kai’s in block D while Aichi’s in A so they can only meet in the finals. Aichi’s first match is against Izaki which is the first match of block A, so they go first along with Morikawa vs Misaki. Matches are played 2 at a time. After a bad start of Aichi and Izaki losing grip on their cards and dropping them, the fight gets underway! Aichi’s nervousness is a bit obvious as he forgets to redraw and tries to attack on the first turn… But after that things get going. Aichi Rides a Grade 1 and moves his Grade 0 to rear-guard. Izaki Rides a Grade 1 and attacks dealing one damage. 0-1 Aichi lucks out and draws a Grade 2, but isn’t lucky enough to get Blaster Blade. He Rides it and summons a Grade 1. He attacks with his Vanguard first which is a bad choice as he draws a stand trigger which could’ve untapped a rear-guard if he had attacked with one first. Izaki fails to guard it, but successfully guards the second attack. 1-1. Over in Morikawa’s fight, he seems to be having the same trouble of too many Grade 3s. Aichi’s not the only one making mistakes though. Izaki tries to attack Aichi’s Vanguard with a monster of lower power. He does get a trigger to give it 5k power, but that trigger is from a monster of a different clan, which means it’s not applicable. Only triggers from monsters of the same clan can be used on each other. His attack fails and Aichi realizes that Izaki’s nervous as well. This relaxes Aichi. With renewed confidence Aichi rides The King of Knights, Alfred! He calls out 2 more and launches his assault, rear-guard first this time. Izaki guards the first, but is unable to against the next two. 3-1. Aichi tells Izaki that he’s nervous too, but is having fun now, and that’s how it should be. Hearing those words Izaki relaxes as well. He rides his Grade 3 and calls out 3 others. He attacks. First attack is guarded, second attack is with his Grade 3 and draws a critical trigger, dealing 2 damage. If his Grade 3’s attack succeeds, a rear-guard must be discarded, but due to that particular rear guard’s effect, at a cost of 1, it returns to the owner’s hand instead. His last attack is guarded. 3-3. Aichi discards one of his rear-guard to summon Solitary Knight, Gancelot. His first att ack is guarded. Second attack is with Alfred. Twin Drive check gives 2 critical triggers leaving Alfred at 30k power and 3 damage. Izaki does a triple damage check, but draws nothing. Aichi wins! The victor of the fight we didn’t see is Misaki! Continued next episode